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In THE JIGSAW MURDERS, Chad Everett gets top billing as “Detective DaVonzo,” who's assigned to a string of murders with dismembered body parts mimicking a puzzle the cops have to use as the primary clue. Michelle Johnson is DaVonzo’s daughter “Kathy,” who's involved with a local cheesecake photographer and has more of a tie to the mystery than either of them realize. DaVonzo's partner, “Elliott” (Michael Sabatino), does a lot of footwork interviewing various leads, while Yaphet Kotto is the jovial coroner “Doctor Fillmore.”
Jag Mundhra directed the 1988 release, which seems to have gone straight to video in the U.S. Kevin Klingler and Bob Mamet provided the unreleased score.
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Posted: |
Apr 8, 2021 - 11:52 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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“Vickie Stewart” (Traci Lords) is a beautiful female cop on the edge and with an INTENT TO KILL. When a drug deal goes wrong, Colombian thug “Salvador” (Angelo Tiffe) must get millions of dollars’ worth of drugs to his ruthless boss, “The Mooch” (Vinnie Curto), or Salvador will meet a gruesome end. So, Salvador is going all over the seedy sides of L.A. trying to collect all he can. The only thing stopping him is Vickie, who is determined to bring down the Colombian drug empire. To do this, she must go rogue, but not all the way rogue. Meanwhile, she must deal with her philandering boyfriend, a fellow cop named “Al” (Scott Patterson), as well as her boss “Captain Jackson” (Yaphet Kotto), who is always on her case.
Yaphet Kotto in INTENT TO KILL
Charles T. Kanganis directed this 1992 direct-to-video film. This was the first film to receive an [NC-17] rating from the MPAA for “extreme violence,” not sex. John Gonzalez provided the unreleased score.
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A flying saucer has landed in rural Iowa, containing a cargo of space slugs capable of attaching to human hosts via their brain stem and controlling them with an alien hive mind. They are THE PUPPET MASTERS. Called in to investigate is CIA authority “Andrew Nivens” (Donald Sutherland); his son, “Agent Sam Nivens” (Eric Thal); and NASA specialist “Mary Sefton” (Julie Warner), with the trio discovering how the slugs manage to expand their takeover in a short amount of time. With anyone capable of being controlled by the invasion, the government agents try to figure out some type of defense, learning the true power of the slugs. Yaphet Kotto appears as Army commander “Ressler.”
Stuart Orme directed the film, which was based on a 1951 novel by Robert A. Heinlein. Colin Towns’ score was released by Citadel Records. The film scored middling box office returns of $8.6 million.
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Posted: |
Apr 9, 2021 - 12:49 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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Yaphet Kotto met with television success co-starring in the ensemble crime drama series “Homicide: Life On the Street”. The series was a police procedural chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit. The first season saw the introductions of Detectives “Frank Pembleton” (Andre Braugher), “Stan Bolander” (Ned Beatty), “Kay Howard” (Melissa Leo), “Meldrick Lewis” (Clark Johnson), “John Munch” (Richard Belzer), “Tim Bayliss” (Kyle Secor), “Beau Felton” (Daniel Baldwin) and “Steve Crosetti” (Jon Polito), as well as the Commander, Lieutenant “Al Giardello” (Yaphet Kotto).
Yaphet Kotto in “Homicide: Life On the Street”
Giardello was a widower of mixed Sicilian-American and African-American heritage. He originates from Southeast Baltimore, where his father was from Baltimore's Little Italy and his mother was from a neighboring housing project known as the Perkins Homes. He was nicknamed "Gee" after the only thing he could say when called to his first murder scene as a rookie, as well as a reference to his last name.
Al Giardello is based on Gary D'Addario, a real-life Baltimore police homicide detective. D'Addario appeared in the series as a recurring character, “Lt. Jasper.” Giardello was written to be of Italian-American heritage like D'Addario but after Yaphet Kotto was cast, Giardello's heritage was changed to part-Italian and part-African-American. Giancarlo Esposito, who joined the cast as Giardello's son in season seven, is of Italian/African-American heritage in real-life.
NBC premiered the series on Wednesday, 31 January 1993, at 9 PM, as a mid-season replacement for “Seinfeld,” which moved to the Thursday slot that it would occupy for the remainder of its run, as well as the new series “Mad About You,” which moved to Saturday. Even though “Seinfeld” was the #25 show for the season, it was struggling against ABC’s sitcom “Home Improvement,” which was the #3 show on the air for the 1992-93 season. The one-hour-long “Homicide” made no headway against “Home Improvement” (or it’s following show, #6 “Coach”), but was renewed as a potential mid-season replacement show for the next season.
“Homicide’s” chance came when the once-popular “L.A. Law” finally faltered. “Homicide” was moved in to the Thursday 10 PM slot as a mid-season replacement for “L.A. Law.” which was in its final season. “Homicide” received a good lead-in from “Frasier,” the #7 show that season. The show’s biggest competition was ABC’s news magazine “Primetime Live,” which was the #17 show on television that season. “Homicide” managed to come in at #24 for its abbreviated season, and was renewed for a full season.
Andre Braugher and Yaphet Kotto in “Homicide: Life On the Street”
In its third (and first full) season (1994-95), “Homicide” was moved to Fridays at 10 PM, where it faced off against another ABC news magazine show, the perennial “20/20.” That show was #17 in the ratings for the season, but “Homicide” was again returned, even though it dropped out of the top 30 shows.
In its fourth season (1995-96), “Homicide” battled it out with “20/20” again, with the latter moving up to the #11 spot for the season. “Nash Bridges” was a new competitor on CBS. But “Homicide” survived again.
In its fifth, sixth, and seventh seasons (1996-99), the same trio of shows fought it out each year, with “20/20” winning all three years, landing in the #12 spot in 1996-97, the #16 spot in 1997-98, and the #14 spot in 1998-99. Finally, at the end of its seventh season, and after 122 episodes, “Homicide: Life On the Street” was cancelled.
Yaphet Kotto in “Homicide: Life On the Street
Yaphet Kotto declared in later interviews that he was disappointed that his character Al Giardello wasn't given more focus throughout the series, even if the show’s creators kept praising his work in the part. "I felt like I was a beggar doing ‘Homicide’. Begging to act. Begging for scenes. The writing was not obviously for me. It mainly focused on others. I went from a movie star playing leads to a bit player doing one line here and one line there. The rest of the week I would be hanging around Fells Point waiting to come in and do my one line. When I asked if they could write more for me to do, they'd say ‘You're doing great. You're the anchor of the show.’ ‘Anchor? I'm an actor, let me out!’ I finally ended up writing for the show and gave myself something to do." Kotto wrote one episode of the show during each of its last three seasons.
Yaphet Kotto was a four-time NAACP Image Award nominee for his role in the series.
The Season Six cast of “Homicide: Life On the Street
(top row) Richard Belzer, Kyle Secor, Yaphet Kotto
(middle row) Reed Diamond, Clark Johnson, Michelle Forbes
(bottom row) Max Perlich, Melissa Leo, Andre Braugher
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Elizabeth Montgomery and Yaphet Kotto reprised their roles of Edna Buchanan and Marty Talbot in the made-for-television film DEADLINE FOR MURDER: FROM THE FILES OF EDNA BUCHANAN. In this installment, Buchanan investigates the murder of a man with ties to the Miami mafia. Joyce Chopra and Patrick Williams again did the directing and scoring duties, respectively, in this film, which aired on CBS on 8 May 1995. This was Elizabeth Montgomery’s final onscreen role. She died of colon cancer at age 62, 10 days after this film aired.
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Posted: |
Apr 10, 2021 - 11:06 AM
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By: |
Bob DiMucci
(Member)
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After more than four decades in film, Yaphet Kotto retired from acting at the age of 68. Kotto married his third wife, Tessie Sinahon, who is from the Philippines, in 1998. He was living in Manila, Philippines at the time of his death.
Before landing his role of “Al Giardello” on television's long-running crime series “Homicide: Life on the Street” Yaphet Kotto had been on a Paramount shortlist for the coveted role of “Jean Luc Picard” in “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” alongside Mitchell Ryan and Roy Thinnes. He apparently spurned the role for fear of being typecast, but came to rue that decision in later years. For the same reason, Kotto had also turned down the part of “Lando Calrissian” in the Star Wars franchise (which went to Billy Dee Williams).
Regarding “Star Trek,” Kotto said, “I think I made some wrong decisions in my life, man. I should have done that, but I walked away. When you're making movies, you would tend to say no to television. It's like when you're in college and someone asks you to the high school dance. You say no.”
“If you're a black actor, you really don't have too many choices. If you keep turning things down, you might as well hit the unemployment office. If I didn't sometimes take small parts in small films, I wouldn't get to play anything, and I do have to eat.”
Small part or large, Yaphet Kotto always was an imposing presence on the screen. Farewell, Yaphet.
with Jane Seymour
with Pam Grier
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